Calm
by shaneo6930
Summary: Eliot; the man who is seemingly without fear, turns out to have a big one. Rating for safety. Please read and review.


Title: Calm

Author: shaneo6930

Pairing: eventual Parker/Eliot

Summary: Eliot; the man who is seemingly without fear, turns out to have a big one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Leverage or any of the characters. Those belong to Dean Devlin and company.

Author's Notes: I'm sorry if these characters seem OOC. This is my first Leverage fic. Ever. Please read and review. No flames please. Special thanks to shadokat771 for helping me get off my lazy ass to write this.

Eliot Spencer is a man of few fears. He's taken on drug cartels, kidnappers, and other baddies no problem. He's been shot, stabbed, electrocuted, and even water boarded. But there is one thing he's afraid of.

"Shut up, Hardison!" Eliot yelled as he was walking down the hall of Leverage Consulting and Associates. He gave 'Old Nate' the traditional, weirded out look. It's been 2 years, and he still can't get used to that painting.

"I just can't believe the man who took out 10 armed men over a baseball card is cowering over a little storm!"

Sophie caught up to the 2 men. "Hardison, leave him alone," she said. "He's just Astraphobic."

Outside, a lightning bolt lit up the Boston night time sky. Eliot tensed up as the sound of thunder reverberated through the building. He wiped the nervous sweat off of his brow and walked calmly into his office.

Eliot's office wasn't like the other offices in the new Leverage Consulting and Associates headquarters. His consisted of a desk, and a medium sized bed. As soon as he got into the office, he went straight to lie down.

After another thunderclap (The lack of windows is exactly why he choose this one), he reached under the pillow and pulled out his iPod. Flipping through it, he found a nice, soothing, country ballad and began to lose himself in sleep.

A few minutes later, he was awoken by a small weight settling down on the bed. He opened his eyes to see Parker sitting at the foot. "Do you remember when we were working that job with the horses?"

"You mean the one with Amy?"

"Yes, that one. But that's not what I'm focusing on," the tiny thief at the edge of the bed said. "Remember I didn't want to work this one because it involved horses, which I've been afraid of." Eliot couldn't help but to roll his eyes at the memory of Parker explaining about the horse at her birthday party killing a clown.

"I got over my fear by facing it head on," she said in an almost chipper voice. "Now, I'm not saying you should go outside and stand in the middle of a storm, because that would be dangerous--"

"Yeah, it would," Eliot cut her off in a gruff growl. "It's more dangerous than you actually think."

Parker may not be too great when it comes to emotions, but she recognized the hitch in her friend's voice. Placing an arm around him, she asked in a soft voice, "If you ever want to talk--"

"I was 10," he started. "We were living in Tulsa, which in Spring becomes the capital of Tornado Alley. I was out playing with my cousin Jesse when we heard thunder. All the time, we would hear storms 2, even 3 counties over, so we thought nothing of it.

"After an hour, Jesse decided that he wanted to go back home. The thunder was getting louder with every passing minute.

There was this big tree in my aunt Margaret's field. We ran so fast that by the time we got to it, we were out of breath. I kept telling him 'Jess, we're almost there. You can't lean against a tree in a storm.'

What happened next is a bit fuzzy. There was a bright flash. All I could smell was-- The stench was indescribable. It took me about 10 minutes to be able to see. Ever since, whenever a storm came, I was afraid. I know the odds of getting struck by lightning are like winning the lottery, but I still don't like them."

He was crying now. Hard sharp sobs that obviously sounded like they had to hurt. This was the first time Parker has seen Eliot cry. She helped him lay down on the bed, and stayed with him as he fell asleep.

At about 3am, Eliot awoke, and smiled to find that Parker was still with him. Her arm was around his chest.

From then on, Eliot still looked over the weather reports carefully. But now, he was waiting for the next time he could find the calm within the storm.

THE END

Additional Author's Notes: I decided to write this a couple weeks ago. A bad storm was slated to come through my area, and I was freaking out. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if any of my heroes had this problem. I then told the idea to a friend of mine who said I should write this. I'm glad I finally got it written. I hope you guys enjoy it.


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